My father, the
paedophile (The Australian) June 21 - Brian Houston The founder of Hillsong Church recalls the day his
great hero fell from grace.

ARTS
& ENTERTAINMENT

This Jesus is quite
ordinary (The West Australian)
June 19 – (Review) The release of Monty
Python’s Life of Brian in 1979 drew howls of outrage and demonstrations outside
cinemas from religious groups accusing it of blasphemy and worse.

INTERNATIONAL
STORIES

Catholic
Church

Pope blasts global
warming deniers (The Age,
Melbourne) June 19 - Washington:A draft of an
environmental encyclical by Pope Francis says "the bulk of global
warming" is caused by human activity. He calls on people - especially the
world's rich - to take steps to mitigate the damage by reducing consumption and
reliance on fossil fuels.

Senegal's reformers call
for science to fix Ramadan dates (The
West Australian) June 19 - Dakar (AFP) - The Muslim holy month of Ramandan unites the Islamic
world in a devotional act of fasting from sunrise to sunset -- but in Senegal
its approach brings divisive arguments over the moon.

Myanmar to bar Rohingya
from fleeing hunger and persecution(Sydney Morning Herald) June 15 - The government of Myanmar says it is determined to stop the
departures of migrants fleeing religious persecution in places like this
bitterly divided port city, but it will not budge in its refusal to address the
conditions driving the exodus across the sea.

Chad warplanes bomb Boko
Haram after attacks (The West
Australian) June 18 - N'Djamena (AFP) - Chad said Thursday its warplanes bombed Boko Haram
positions in neighbouring Nigeria to avenge twin suicide bombings in the
capital this week blamed on the jihadists.

Chad bans burqas after
suicide bombings kill 33 (news.com.au) June 19 - THE central African nation of Chad has banned the full-face Muslim
veil and ordered security forces to seize burqas from markets after 33 people
were killed in suicide bombings blamed on Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram.

Also:
Chad's ban on Islamic
veil after attacks divides Muslims (The
West Australian) June 21 - N'Djamena (AFP) - Chad's decision to ban women from wearing the
Islamic veil, which came two days after bloody suicide bombings hit the
capital, has divided Muslims but the government defends it as part of an
anti-terror strategy.

Medium killed, tomb desecrated
in latest Brazil attacks (The
West Australian) June 20 - Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - A well-known medium popular with the stars was
killed and the tomb of another was desecrated Friday in the latest wave of
violence targeting spiritualists in several days in Brazil, police said.

Champion of the
separation of church and state (The
Age, Melbourne) June 19 – (Obituary) Anne Gaylor was an American feminist and activist who
transformed a local campaign for abortion rights into a national crusade to
maintain the separation of church and state.

India beef ban shines
light on cow care homes (The West
Australian) June 19 - Mumbai (AFP) - At a care home for cows just outside the Indian city
of Mumbai, dedicated staff lovingly tend to the every need of its ageing bovine
residents, recently saved from slaughterhouses.

Pope will help PM with
climate morality (news.com.au) June 19 - THE Pope's statement on climate change should help Tony Abbott
understand his moral obligation to be part of the solution, conservationists
say.

Also:
What Fred Nile could
learn from my queer family (Brisbane
Times) June 19 – (Opinion: Maeve Marsden) There's been a lot of anger from the LGBTQI
community this week after conservative politician Fred Nile was booked to
appear on a Q&A special discussing our rights.

'Bizarre' union video
pulled from YouTube (The Age,
Melbourne) June 19 - One of the country's biggest unions has been forced to pull a video
off YouTube, after social media expressed shock and dismay over its suggestion
that union members should reassert their "values" in the ALP over
same-sex people, environmentalists and other members.

Can the Pope save the
world? (The Age, Melbourne) June 20 – (Opinion: Martin Flanagan) Prior to Pope Francis delivering his
encyclical on climate change, US Republican Senator James Inhofe declared:
"The Pope ought to stay with his job, and we'll stay with ours."